with buses departing from the Logan Center at 9am and 1pm
For the past ten years, Diasporal Rhythms has offered the public an annual opportunity to visit the homes of member collectors. This year's home tour focuses on the South Shore neighborhood with visits to the Clyde Proctor Collection (Diasporal Rhythms member since 2005, first tine on the Home Tour); the Robert Williams Collection (Diasporal Rhythms member since 2006; the Shyvette Williams Collection (Diasporal Rhythms member since 2006); and the Gail Spann Collection (New Diasporal Rhythms member). Tours begin and end at the Logan Center for the Arts, with a chance to see the 10th anniversary exhibition, Diasporal Rhythms: A 10-Year Love Affair with Collecting Art of the African Diaspora, featuring works by nineteen honored artists from twenty-three members' collections.

Thu OCT 17, 6pm
FOUNDATIONS OF DIASPORAL RHYTHMS
With Floyd Atkins (Artist), Diane Dinkins-Carr (Art Consultant, former President of the Board, South Side Community Art Center), and Patric McCoy (Diasporal Rhythms Co-Founder and President)

The Curators of Dixon School
(Pamela Sherrod Anderson, dir., 80 min)
Public schools don't have to be a minefield of metal detectors, minimal expectations, and mind-numbing routine. An alternative exists right here in Chicago, at the Dixon Elementary Public School in the Chatham neighborhood, where former principal Joan Crisler and her successor Sharon Dale have implemented the idea that art should be an integral part of the learning environment, with museum-quality works openly adorning the halls. The results, in terms of student performance and morale, have been spectacular, but, as this inspiring but pragmatic documentary demonstrates, there are no miracle solutions; Crisler's protégé Carol Briggs has an uphill battle applying the same approach at another school, and recent budget cuts have left even the most successful programs vulnerable to the axe.

In his book Black Art: A Cultural History (Thames & Hudson, 2002), Richard J. Powell writes of Jeff Donaldson’s work [recently featured at the Logan Center Gallery in AFRICOBRA: Philosophy]: ”this is another Black diasporal rhythm.” The idea of an African diasporal rhythm resonated with the founders of this unique collective. And the notion that an artwork can be a rhythm – that just like music, rap and dance, artworks carry the rhythms floating through the Diaspora – has been a guiding principle in their activity.

Founded in 2003, Diasporal Rhythms seeks to build a passionate group of collectors engaged in actively acquiring visual art created by contemporary artists of the African diaspora and to expand the appreciation of these artists’ work. The organization hosts both public and private (members only) events, including home tours, exhibitions and other opportunities to build knowledge about cultural value. Currently a regional organization, Diasporal Rhythms boasts collections housed in private homes throughout Chicago and even counts a public institution, the Dixon Elementary School, as a member.

The bi-annual Collectors’ Invitational marks the culmination of the group’s efforts to recognize the artists they have encountered. Every other year, the membership gathers to vote “out of their collections”: Each member can cast a ballot for an artist whose works they have acquired, and the top five artists are then honored by exhibitions and other events for two years. The nineteen artists featured in this exhibition, which celebrates the tenth anniversary of Diasporal Rhythms, are all such honored artists. To choose their work for this special exhibition, the members gathered to vote from their collections, this time for three representative works by each previously honored artist.

Joyce Owens, an artist, curator, and professor has been invited to curate the installation of the chosen fifty-seven works at the Logan Center Gallery. The exhibition aims to present an overview of the depth and significance of the activity of Diasporal Rhythms and presents an opportunity to reflect on the shared resonances, unique skills, and vision evident in the individual art they collect, bringing the artists and the collectors who support them to a broader audience.